The Kettlebell meme

This afternoon we had a traditional Skype call with Georgia, with relatives of my wife. Among casual conversation, they mentioned that they are looking for an old Soviet kettlebell. Rumor has it, that someone is willing to pay for it big money, because “contents of the capsules is invaluable” and consists of some precious metals. After a series of arguments, I did a search on the Internet and indeed found a few last week’s ads on a Russian Craigslist.

More importantly, the online community on Vkontakte that has spread the rumor of kettlebells being valuable has came up with the searches. The kettlebell meme was started by a bunch of anonymous Internet users, who literally flooded the web with the ads. So, people began to look for old Soviet kettlebells, in hopes of getting some easy cash. Soon, people in Russia, in Georgia, in Ukraine and all over the ex-USSR got the kettlebell fever.

The meme originates from the book “The Little Golden Calf”, a famous satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, released in 1931. In the book, a deceiver named Bender asks his accomplice to saw the kettlebell, because it has gold in it.

As of the returning to the Skype call, our relative from the Georgian town of Poti even managed to find one kettlebell in a mountainous village. He carried it all the way back home and has set up an appointment to sell it tomorrow. Not funny, guys.